Posted: 4/26/05
Mock crash brings home the horror of drunk driving
By David Heiller
Argus News Editor
The possible consequences of drinking and driving were demonstrated in gory detail to Caledonia High School students on April 22.
Kids sat in bleachers and stood behind the school to watch the effects of a mock car crash.
The hour-long drama sent a chill through the air as effectively as the April breeze that was blowing.
It started with tarps being pulled off of two cars that had been hauled in from a salvage yard. They appeared to have crashed head on.
Aaron VonRavenhorst lay on the hood of one car, dead.
The cars had three injured students: Melanie Dodson, and Amber Ideker, and Clay Schuldt.
The driver of the car that caused the crash, Kelsey Renk, was not injured, although she went through perhaps the biggest ordeal of them all. She was drunk and hysterical, and played the part with convincing passion.
A car driven by John Salo, with Danielle Frank as his date, came upon the scene and called 9-1-1.
Local emergency departments then roared onto the scene, Caledonia Police Chief Randy Shefelbine, Houston County deputies, ambulances, the Caledonia Fire Department, a medical examiner, and finally, a hearse.
They all did their parts. Injured youths were put on stretchers and wheeled to ambulances. Caledonia Fire Department members used the Jaws of Life to cut off the hood of one car to get at the injured person.
While all this unfolded, another scene was taking place with a shrieking and sobbing Kelsey Renk. Houston County Sheriffís Deputy Dan Coogan questioned her. He asked her to walk in a straight line, which she could not seem to do. He made her take a breath test for alcohol. Then he asked her to put her hands behind her back. He put handcuffs on her and put her in the back seat of his squad car.
The coroner arrived to take pictures of the scene and pronounce the boy dead. Then McCormickís Funeral Home came, Von Ravenhorst was put in a body bag, and the hearse drove away to end the program.
Sponsored by SADD
The event was all organized by the schoolís Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) with the message to not drink and drive. The time was right for that with prom this Saturday, Mandy Bathalon said before the event started.
A dramatization was better than a lecture, SADD member Samantha Hoff added. ìTo make it more a reality.î
Many students seemed to think it worked. ìIt easily made its point,î Michael Kutina said after the program.
Michelle Meyer agreed. ìIt showed what can happen if you drink and drive,î she said.
SADD advisor Mary Jacobson said she watched students enter the school arm and arm after the program, some of the sobbing. ìThat was our intention,î she said. ìWe just want everybody to have a safe prom and graduation season.î
Houston County Chief Deputy said before the event that it was an excellent idea. ìProbably all too real,î he added.
Bob Augedahl, operations manager for Tri-State Ambulance in La Crosse, concurred. ìIíve been in this 20 years. Iíve seen it countless times,î he said. ìPeople are killed or disabled in situations like this.î
He hopes students make the right decisions: donít drink or take drugs, and wear your seatbelt. ìI always tell young adults itís their choice.î
Caledonia Argus
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